Apparatus for stapiuzing yarn



April 194% H. R. BUCKLE?! "2,1963% APPARATUIE? FOR STAPILIZING YARN Original Filed April 22, 1939 2 Shams-Shem 1 INVENTORS 1 H HARRY R. BUCKLEYJnd j FRANK W. SCHU LTE 7 i MMW ATTORNEYS April 16, 1940. R. BUCKLEY 2,196,975

APPARATUS FOR STAPILIZING YARN Original Filed April 22, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fi .4. 5 K

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INVENTOR HARRY R. BUCKLEYand FRANK W. SCHULTE sw maw Patented Apr. 16, 1940 UNITED STATES APPARATUS FOR STAPILIZING YARN Harry Robert Buckley and Frank Willard Schulte, Cumberland, Md., assignors to Celanese Corporation of America, a corporation of Delaware Application April 22, 1989, Serial No. 269,350

15 Claims.

This invention relates to apparatus for stapilizing yarn, i. e., for converting yarn of continuous filaments into yarn containing staple fiber and having the appearance of spun yarn.

In the manufacture of spun yarn from artificial fibers, the usual practice is to cut continuous artificial filaments or waste filaments intocomparatively short lengths, for example, lengths of 1% to 2 inches or more, and then subject the staple fiber produced to a series of operations appropriate to the length'of the fiber.- Such operations being similar to those accorded natural fibers such as cotton or wool, including opening, carding, drawing and spinning. These operations represent considerable expense in the production of such yarn since they involve a relatively slow transformation of the initial flbrous material to a finished yarn.

The object of the present invention is to provide a simple, convenient, expeditious and economical means for producing yarns similar in appearance to those containing staple fiber from yarn composed of continuous filaments.

Another object of this invention is the production of stapilized yarn by bringing a yarn of continuous filaments into contact with a moving cutting element for cutting at least some of the filaments of the yarn at intervals along the length thereof.

A further object of this invention is the provision of novel means for converting a yarn of continuous filaments into a staple fiber yarn without the necessity of cutting or breaking a continuous filament yarn into short lengths and then spinning the fiber thus produced.

Other objects of this invention, together with certain details of construction and combinations of parts, will appear from the following description and drawings.

In accordance with this invention a continuous filament yarn is subjected to the action of an abrasive cutting means between which and the yarn there isrelative movement so as to break the continuity of the filaments of the yarn,

whereby upon being twisted the resulting yarn ment cutting required and upon the characteristics of the yarn involved. It will be appreciated that in order to impart a uniform appearance along the length of the yarn, the cutting of the filaments should be carried out in a regular 5 manner. Conveniently, the cutting operation is carried out during a twisting operation performed on the yarn in either adown-twisting or uptwisting machine, and preferably in such a manner that a certain amount of twisting-in of the 10 cut or broken filament ends occurs.

Preferably the cutting of the filaments of the yarn is effected during a down-twisting operation with the abrasive cutting means arranged to engage the yarn as it proceeds from the supply 16 package to a take-up package adapted to insert a twist in the yarn. While a. yarn or bundle of filaments having little or no twist may be stapilized in accordance with this invention, we have found that more advantageous results are ob- 20 tained by employing a yarn or bundle of filaments which already has an initial twist of three turns per inch. Where doubled yarns are to be subjected to abrasive cutting action for the' purpose of stapilizing the same, a doubling twist of at 25 least three to five turns per inch should be employed in order to insure even cutting of the filaments of the doubled yarn.

While the present invention is particularly concerned with processing yarn of continuous 30 synthetic filaments such as, for example, filaments made of or containing organic derivatives of cellulose and particularly cellulose acetate, it may also be applied to natural yarns such as silk, and also to the processing of yarn com- 35 prising or made up from discontinuous filaments or fibers in which case the fibers. in the yarn are cut into smaller lengths. The present invention may also be used on mixed or compound yarns comprising different twists, plies, or origins. 40

In its broadest aspect, our invention comprises attaching an abrading wheel or disc to a. feed roller of a twisting apparatus and placing guides in such positions relative there-to that yarn properly threaded through said guides is continuously in contact with said Wheel or disc and has the filaments thereof out thereby. Our invention possesses the great advantage that it does not destroy or hamper the standard features of the twisting apparatus if it is desired to run the same without stapilizing the yarn. I

Referring now to the accompanying drawings wherein the prefered embodiments of our invention are shown: t

Figure 1 is a front elevational view showing the abrading wheel or disc attached to the shaft of the top roller of a multiple nip roller feed of a down-twisting apparatus,

Figure 2 is a side elevational view of the structure shown in Figure 1, showing the guide arrangement for causing the yarn to contact with the abrading wheel or disc.

Figure 3 is a side elevational view showing the abrading Wheel or disc attached to the lower feed roller of a doubling machine, and

Figure 4 is a front elevational view of the structure shown in Figure 3.

Like reference numerals designate like parts throughout the several views of the drawings.

Referring to Figures 1 and 2, a bundle of filaments 5, hereinafter referred to as yarn, is drawn from a suitable source of supply and is passed over a guide rod 6 and through a suitable tension device generally indicated by reference numeral I which is supported on a rod 8. fixed to cross-piece 9 of a twisting apparatus indicated by reference numeral ll. Although in Figure 1 a single yarn is shown being operated upon, doubled or plied yarn consisting of two or more ends may also be employed. In Figure 2 two ends 5 are shown drawn from bobbins I2 carried on a shelf I3 of the twisting apparatus, passed over guide rods 6 and through tension device 1.

From tension device I the yarn proceeds through guide eye I4 and. then through guide eye l5, both mounted in bearing block IS. The guide eyes l4 and i5 are adjustable so that they may be positioned with respect to each other to cause the yarn 5 to be in continuous contact with an abrasive wheel or disc l1, and also positioned with respect to the abrasive wheel or disc so that the amount of cutting of the filaments of the yarn which is to take place may be adjusted. The abrasive wheel or disc I! is mounted on the top roller I8, preferably cork-covered, of a nip roller feed arrangement including two bottom rollers l9 and 2|, by passing the same over the shaft 22 of said top roller l8 and suitably fixing the same thereto. While the nip roller feed arrangement is shown in Figures 1 and 2 as consisting of a single top roller and two bottom rollers, it is to be understood that any form of roller grouping may be employed-in accordance with this invention. The abrasive wheel or disc may be made of any suitable grit or size depending upon the effect desired either in the single or plied yarn. Preferably the abrasive wheel or disc is made of emery or carborundum. Normally the abrasive wheel or disc is about one inch in diameter. However, where more frequent cutting of the filaments is desired a wheel or disc of greater diameter is employed. For example; where an abrasive wheel or disc having a diameter of 1% inches is employed, its linear velocity is 50% greater than that of a wheel or disc which is one inch in diameter and therefore the cutting-action of the wheel or disc of larger diimeter would be more frequent.

From guide eye IS the yarn, not now in the form of continuous filaments since contact with the abrasive wheel or disc has severed at least some of the filaments, is passed through guide eye 23 fixed to a rod 24, between top roller I 8 and bottom roller l9, over top roller l8 and then between top roller l8 and bottom roller 2|. The stapilized yarn issuing from rollers l8 and 2| proceeds downward through the guide eye 25, fixed to the edge of the shelf l3, which acts as the balloon guide of a suitable spinning device 26 by means of which the stapilized yarn is twisted and wound on to a bobbin.

abrasive wheel or disc.

The apparatus above described constitutes oneof a series of units disposed in a line in the manner common with twisting machinery in the textile art, the rollers l9 and 2| extending along the length of the twisting machine and are driven by any suitable means (not shown).

In Figures 3 and 4 there is shown a modified form of apparatus for stapilizing yarn in which the feeding arrangement of the twisting apparatus comprises a pair of grooved rollers, consisting of upper roller 21 and lower roller 28, which rollers are mounted on a bracket 29 and are adapted to be rotated in any suitable manner. On lower roller 28 is fixed by means of a screw and hub 3| an abrasive wheel or disc 32. The screw and hub 3| may be grooved as shown at 38 and serves as a guide for a purpose hereinafter set forth. In the employment of the apparatus shown in this modification, the yarn 5' drawn from any suitable supply package or packages passes'around feed rollers 21 and 28 and through a delivering guide 33 which may be adjustably mounted on bracket 29. From delivering guide 33 the yarn passes in contact with groove 38 which is adapted to hold the yarn 5 in constant contact with the abrading wheel or disc 32 which, it will be noted from the arrows shown in Figure 3, rotates in the opposite direction from the direction of the yarn passing across the surface of the abrading wheel or disc thus causing at least some of the filaments of the yarn to be out. After leaving groove 38 the yarn passes downward to a receiving guide 34 which is also fixed to bracket 29, then through the balloon guide 35 of the ring spinning device generally indicated by reference numeral 36 by means of which the stapilized yarn is twisted and wound on to bobbin 31. The amount of cutting action on the filaments by the abrading wheel or disc 32 may be adjusted by adjusting the position of the guides 33 and 34.

The apparatus shown in Figures 3 and 4, like that shown in Figures 1 and 2, constitutes one of a series of units disposed in a line along the length of a twisting machine.

If the tension falls off slightly when a bobbin becomes large, a sharp edged wheel or disc takes advantage of this and causes the yarn to drag in a rhythmic fashion on its surface until a break finally results. Accordingly, it is desirable and preferable to have the abrasive wheel or disc curve at that point where the yarn makes contact therewith.

The stapilizing devices of our invention possess many advantages over those heretofore used. Besides being inexpensive to install on existing twisting machines, the stapilizing devices are easily threaded-up by the operative and readily set for any desired degree of filament cutting. Moreover, the twisting spindle may be started while the yarn is in direct contact with the Furthermore, not only are the stapilizing devices of our invention readily adjustable for different yarn deniers by removing one abrasive wheel or disc and replacing the same with a finer or coarser one as the case may be, but alsoonce the device is set for abrading a yarn of a certain denier the setting remains intact indefinitely. The devices of our invention are also advantageous in that they necessitate no change in the set-up of the twisting machine itself so that regular twisting or doubling may be resorted to, without stapilizing, if desired. Another feature of this invention is that it is possible to stapilize one yarn while another yarn may be run through without stapilizing' the same. The devices of the present invention stapilize yarn uniformly throughout its length which it will be appreciated is very important in the production of textile materials from the stapilized yarn.

It is to be understood that the foregoing detailed description and drawings are given merely by way of illustration, and that many variations may be made therein without departing from the spirit of our invention.

Having described our invention, what we desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. Apparatus for the production of a continuous staple fiber product from a yarn of continuous filaments comprising, in combination with a twisting machine having means for feeding yarn to the twisting spindle, an abrasive memberrotated by said feeding means and means for causing the yarn to pass in contact with the surface of said abrasive member whereby at least some of the filaments of the yarn are severed.

2. Apparatus for the production of a continuous staple fiber product from a yarn of continuous filaments comprising, in combination,

with a twisting machine having means for feeding yarn to the twisting spindle, an abrasive wheel having a rounded edge rotated by said feeding means and means for causing the yarn to pass in'contact with at least the rounded edge of said abrasive wheel whereby at least some of the filaments of the yarn are severed.

3. Apparatus for the production of a continous staple fiber product from a yarn of con-. tinuous filaments comprising, in combination with a twisting machine having rotatable means for feeding yarn to the twisting spindle, an abrasive member'mounted on and adapted to be rotated by said feeding means and means for causing the yarn to pass in contact with the sur-' face of said abrasive member whereby at least some of the filaments of the yarn are severed.

4. Apparatus for the production of a continuous staple fiber product from a yarn of conxtinuous filaments comprising, in combination with a twisting machine having rotatable means for feeding yarn to the twisting spindle, an abrasive wheel having a rounded edge rotated by said feeding means and means for causing the yarn to pass in contact with at least the rounded edge of said abrasive wheel whereby at least some of the filaments of the yarn are severed. 5. Apparatus for theproduction of a continuous staple fiber product from a yarn of continuous filaments comprising, in combination with a twisting machine having a plurality of rollers for feeding yarn to the twisting spindle,

an abrasive member mounted on one of said ing the yarn to pass in contact with at least the rounded edge of said abrasive wheel whereby at least some of the filaments of the yarn are severed.

7. Apparatus for the production of a continuous staple fiber product from a yarn of continuous filaments comprising, in combination with a twisting machine having a plurality of rollers for feeding yarn to the twisting spindle, an abrasive membermounted on one of said rollers for rotation therewith and a plurality of guides for causing the yarn to pass in contact with the surface of the said abrasive member whereby at least some of the filaments of the yarn are severed.

. 8. Apparatus for the production of a continuous staple fiber product from a yarn of continuous filaments comprising, in combination with a twisting machine having a plurality of rollers for feeding yarn to the twisting spindle, an abrasive member mounted on one of said rollers for rotation therewith and a plurality of adjustable guides for causing the yarn to pass in contact with the surface of the said abrasive member whereby at least some of the filaments of the yarn are severed.

9. Apparatus for the production of a continuous staple fiber product from a yarn of continuous filaments comprising, in combination with a twisting machine having a plurality of rollers for feeding yarn to the twisting spindle, an abrasive member mounted on ne of said rollers for rotation therewith and a plurality of guides adjustable with respect to each other and with respect to the abrasive member for causing the yam to pass in contact with the surface of the said abrasive member whereby at least som of the filaments of the yarn are severed.

10. Apparatus for the production of a continuous staple fiber product from a yarn of continuous filaments comprising, in combination with a down-twisting machine including nip rollers for feeding yarn to the twisting spindle,

an abrasive member mounted on one of said nip rollers for rotation therewith and a plurality of guides for causing the yarn to pass in contact with the surface of said abrasive member whereedge of said abrasive wheel whereby at least some I of the filaments of the yarn are severed.

12. Apparatus for the production of a continuous staple fiber product from a yarn of continuous filaments comprising, in combination with a down-twisting machine including nip rollers for feeding yarn to the twisting spindle, an abrasive member mounted on one of said nip rollers for rotation therewith, and a plurality of guides for causingthe yarn to pass first in contact with the surface of said abrasive member whereby at least some of the filaments of the yarn are severed and then in contact with the said nip rollers for feding the yarn to the said twisting spindle.

13. Apparatus for the production of a continuous staple fiber product from a yarn of continuous filaments comprising, in combination with a down-twisting machine including nip rollers for feeding yarn to the twisting spindle, an abrasive wheel having a rounded edge mounted on one of said nip rollers for rotation therewith, and a plurality of guides for causing the yarn to pass first in contact with at least the rounded edge of said abrasive wheel whereby at least some of the filaments of the yarn are severed and then in contact with the said nip rollers for feeding the yarn to the said twisting spindle.

14. Apparatus for the production of a continuous staple fiber product from a yarn of continuous filaments comprising, in combination with a twisting machine having a plurality of rollers for feeding yarn to the twisting spindle, an abrasive member mounted on one of said rollers for rotation therewith, means for holding said abrasive member on said roller, a guide member on said holding means and a plurality of guides cooperating with said guide member on said holding means for causing the yarn to pass in contact with said abrasive member whereby at least some of the filaments are severed.

15. Apparatus for the production of a continuous staple fiber product from a yarn'of continuous filaments comprising, in combination with a twisting machine having a plurality of rollers for feeding yarn to the twisting spindle, an abrasive member mounted on one of said rollers for rotation therewith, means for holding said abrasive member on said roller, a guide member integral with said holding means and a severed.

HARRY ROBERT BUCKLEY.

FRANK WILLARD SCHULTE. 

